Most fraudsters get away with it ‘because police have no strategy’

More than half of fraud investigations have no outcome a year after a crime is reportedSCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/GETTY IMAGES

Nearly a third of fraud investigations are closed within weeks, there is a shortage of specialist officers despite the crime’s complexity and only 3 per cent of offenders are brought to justice, research suggests.

More than half of investigations have no outcome a year after the crime is reported, and 28 per cent of investigations are closed within a month, says the Police Foundation, a think tank.

It says that the system for dealing with fraud is poorly structured, crime-prevention messages are confusing and victim support services do not cater for the specific needs of victims.

Fraud makes up 31 per cent of all crime and there were 3.2 million offences in 2017-18, according to the Crime Survey of England and Wales.

Of those, 638,882…

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